Canon 5D "Mark II"

A bunch of websites are claiming that Canon Germany confirmed that a successor to the EOS 5D will be announced at Photokina in Cologne during the last week of September. Since all these websites have predicted such a successor for quite a while, there's no reason to believe them now...or is there?

As far as I know, no one has published verifiable information as to what Canon is working on at this time, but my gut feel is that Canon will not allow Nikon take the lead with its recent products, including the D90 with its video capability.

While there are rumors that the 5D successor will be a 21.1 MP full-frame 5 frames per second machine, with LiveView and a 3.2" High Resolution Screen (LCD). However, I suspect that 21.1 MP is not reasonable as it would take away a very large chunk of market share from Canon's $8000 1Ds MkIII. I also happen to think that Canon may also feature a camera with video capability.

The Nikon D90's feature of recording cinematic-quality movie clips at up to 720p HD (1280 x 720 pixels) is an immense step in the right direction, and opens up all sorts of opportunities.

The merging of still and motion photography is what most photojournalists need to meet the industry's current challenges...and Canon will not let its supremacy slip away.

Wishful thinking? Perhaps.

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Matt Wright-Steel: Texas Mountain Trail

Photograph Matt Wright-Steel-All Rights Reserved
I ought to post on more domestic photo essays and galleries, and Matt Wright-Steel's new portfolio titled Texas Mountain Trail allows me to do just that...beautifully composed (and large) images of typical Texan landscapes by a very versatile photojournalist. I particularly liked the photograph of the rusty crucifix in the old cemetery. I wonder whether Matt used Lightroom to enhance the images?

Matt uses large images to showcase all of his galleries, joining the ranks of photographers and photography websites that do not shy away from using this format to provide us with a better visual experience.

Matt Wright-Steel is a documentary photographer focused on culture and the human experience, and attended the recent Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City.

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Digital Photo Pro Mag: Jeff Hutchens

Photograph Jeff Hutchens-All Rights Reserved
Digital Photo Pro magazine has published an interesting 3 page interview with globetrotter photographer Jeff Hutchens titled The Frozen Mood.

At a time when travel photographers are facing a diminution in work assignments and gigs, and existentialistic navel-gazing questions such as "is travel photography dead?", it's refreshing to see an in-depth article and interview with a young but well-established travel photographer.

Hutchens traveled to more than 40 nations in his 29 years and has had plenty of adventures and misadventures. He moved with his family to northeastern China when he was four, after his father was hired to teach English to Chinese students. He and his brother attended a Chinese preschool and learned Mandarin.

I liked what he said on his China photographs: “I always experience China the same way: the cacophony of Mandarin tones; blurring bicycles and black slacks; the barrage of reds turned oddly luminescent by the haze of the polluted sky.”

Jeff Hutchens' website

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Angkor Photo Festival: 23-28 Nov 2008

For the fourth time, the Angkor Photography Festival will take place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from the 23rd to the 28th of November 2008.

The program for 2008 includes six evenings of audiovisual presentations from around the world curated by the festival, the workshop tutors, as well as by two internationally renowned photography editors, Sujong Song and Christian Caujolle.

The 2008 festival will also host a series of free photography workshops, present its outreach programs and hold a fund raising photography auction for the Anjali children’s project.

Press Release with PDF of the Press Photos 2008

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Does Size Matter? Yes It Does.

Photograph Joseph Rodriguez-All Rights Reserved
Realizing that viewers/readers are enamored with large photographs, two national newspapers have recently featured large photographs of current events. The size of these photographs are in the range of 1000 x 650 pixels (which is the favored size for displaying my own images on my web galleries, and certainly for my multimedia slideshows). The response to the Boston Globe's The Big Picture is phenomenal, and if you haven't visited it yet, you should.

Interestingly, the staid Wall Street Journal has followed suit with its equally attractive Photo Journal which features a photo essay on Katrina stories by photographer Joseph Rodriguez.

For anyone interested in photojournalism, these two websites ought to be bookmarked. The Big Picture's photographs from the Olympics are just extraordinary.

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Nikon D90: Is This The Future?

On the heels of Canon announcing its new EOS 50D, Nikon has revealed details of the D90, which features a video mode.

Nikon claims that the D90 is the first mid-class DSLR to offer a movie function. It allows you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. The video mode is compatible with Nikkor’s range of lenses.

Nobody should have doubts that this is the future for photography. Imagine the possibilities for photojournalists, travel photographers and others to have this function!

Just a caveat: The Nikon D90 link that shows off its video capabilities has a note that the videos shown were taken using D-Movie function, then converted to Flash Video format for ease of handling. Image quality varies from the original.

And if you want to hear the N90's shutter sound, knock yourself out by clicking here.

David Pogue has a friendly review of the D90 on the New York Times, which makes the point that the "era of the video S.L.R. has begun."

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Magnum Workshops in NYC

Magnum announced that its Magnum Workshop New York on October 20-31, 2008 will be a five day practice oriented workshop taking place at MILK Studios, a New York photography studio, located in the heart of Chelsea and the arts district. Each workshop will have a maximum of 12 participants.

The following Magnum Photographers will be leading the workshops:

Session 1: October 20-24, 2008
Alex Webb (with Rebecca Norris Webb)
Bruce Gilden

Session 2: October 27-31, 2008
Constantine Manos
Chien-Chi Chang

For further details, visit Magnum Workshops

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